Little elflings come to play
by Lady of the Twilight Woods
Summary: This is a cute story about Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir when they were elflings. Of course they have lots of fun and cause mayhem. And they are o so cute.
1. trees and feathers

Athor's note: I got the idea for this story while looking at my old children's books the other day.  
  
And the usual: I don't own them. As much as I'd love to. They all belong to J.R.R. Tolkien, the genius.  
  
So, enjoy.  
  
Chapter 1: Trees and feathers  
  
CRASH! A door was thrown open and slammed into the wall inside the room.  
  
An elfling came flying out of the room, golden hair whipping out behind him. A few seconds later two dark haired elflings came running in pursuit.  
  
Legolas, the prince of Mirkwood was visiting Elladan and Elrohir , the twin sons of Lord Elrond, in Imladris.  
  
Currently the three children were playing tag and it was the twin's turn to catch Legolas, who was of course trying to make it as difficult as possible for them to catch him.  
  
He had now nearly reached the ground floor and was heading for the back door which lead to the gardens. He ran faster, noticing that Elladan and Elrohir were getting closer and soon burst through the door outside.  
  
Legolas paused a few seconds to consider where to run next and decided to take refuge in the nearest tree for the time being. He had hardly reached the thick branches of the tree which where covered entirely by leaves, when Elladan and Elrohir came running into the garden.  
  
They stopped and looked for a sign of Legolas. they didn't find any.  
  
"Where has he disappeared to?" Elrohir asked, out of breath.  
  
"No idea. Let's go looking for him. He must be hiding somewhere." answered Elladan.  
  
They walked further into the garden and right past the tree Legolas was hiding in.  
  
The twins soon were out of sight leaving Legolas thoroughly pleased with the choice of his hiding place.  
  
After a while he got bored and decided to climb down the tree again. His feet had barely touched the ground when Elladan and Elrohir came back and spotted him. At once Legolas took off at full speed again and the twins after him.  
  
They dashed back into the house, all of them squealing with laughter. Through the kitchen, where they nearly made a cook drop a bowl of salad, through the dining hall and back up the stairs to the first floor.  
  
Legolas had lost track of where he wanted to run and then decided to just simply proceed running to the next floor. He reached the second floor and still the twins were behind him. So on to the third floor he sprinted.  
  
Now he was exactly where Elladan and Elrohir wanted him to be. Their room was on this floor. The very last room of the corridor. And Legolas made straight for it.  
  
He ran into the twin's room before he even knew where he was going. He realised when he was inside.  
  
The very second Legolas considered running out again, Elladan and Elrohir burst in.  
  
"Trapped!" Elrohir said while Elladan went to Legolas and tapped him on the shoulder.  
  
"Got you, tithen-pen. You're on."  
  
"Don't call me that." Legolas protested. "I'm only 80 years younger than you."  
  
"Still tithen-pen." Elladan said, avoiding a cushion that was thrown at him by Legolas.  
  
Elladan grabbed the cushion and threw it back at Legolas who quickly dodged it. The cushion instead hit Elrohir right in the face.  
  
"Sorry, gwador-nin" Elladan apologised.  
  
Elrohir picked up the pillow and gave his brother a mock glare before throwing it back at him.  
  
The pillow fight was on.  
  
Legolas dodged a pillow that was aimed at him by Elrohir and got hit by another from Elladan. He grabbed both of them and was pleased to see that the twins were busy pillow-fighting each other at the moment.  
  
He threw both cushions at the same time and each of them hit met one of the twins. They looked both stunned making Legolas laugh at them. The twins stopped fighting about the cushion they both had a firm grip on and grinned. Legolas didn't like it. They now had three cushions lying at their feet and one in their hands, leaving Legolas without.  
  
He managed to dodge the first two throws but the third pillow got him. Legolas jumped on the bed, seeking refuge and nearly bounced of the springy mattress. In a second the last cushion flew towards him, but this time he caught it. He now had that one and all the cushions that still remained on the bed. Now the twins were unarmed.  
  
Legolas grabbed two cushions and prepared to throw them, but before he even had a chance to aim Elladan and Elrohir both jumped onto the bed making all three of them nearly bounce off.  
  
All three elflings suddenly dived for the cushions trying to gather as many as they could. They were wrestling over the last cushion, none of them wanting to back down. But the pillow fight was soon forgotten and they found themselves pinning each other down on the bed, tickling each other mercilessly. After some time the cushions were all over the room, Legolas, Elladan and Elrohir all lay sprawled on the big bed giggling and feathers from the pillows were flying about the room.  
  
"Elladan, you look as if you'd been sleeping in a hen house." Legolas giggled.  
  
"Do you think you look any different?"  
  
"No." Legolas replied sheepishly.  
  
"I guess we all look quite the mess." Elrohir concluded. "And look at the room."  
  
Elvish translations:  
  
little one  
  
(my) brother  
  
Author's note: I hope you enjoyed it. The elvish translations and the elvish itself might be incorrect sometimes, because I don't really know much about it. I get my translations from "The Council of Elrond" (great site, If I may say so.)  
  
Now, to all you great people who have been reading and reviewing my other story: Don't worry, I haven't abandoned it. It's just that I'm terribly stuck with chapter five at the moment and this fic here just screamed for being written. I suddenly had so many ideas for this story that I have to get them out of my head first.  
  
So please bare with me and send reviews. makes big puppy eyes 


	2. honey and ginger

**Review answers:**  
  
to Amthramiel: I'm glad you like it. And you were my first reviewer for this story. Thanks.  
  
to Haldir's Heart and Soul: I totally agree with you. elflings are adorable.  
  
So here goes the next chapter.  
  
Chapter two: honey and ginger  
  
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.  
  
"Come in." all three elflings called.  
  
The door opened and Lord Elrond came in. He stood there a few seconds looking around the room and taking in the mess. He then gave a helpless smile and said  
  
"I see you've been enjoying yourselves. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Get yourselves cleaned up. I'll tell the maids to take care of this mess and provide new pillows."  
  
Legolas went to his room to get changed and tidy his hair and the twins did the same in their room.  
  
They then went down to the big dining hall together where Elrond, Glorfindel and Erestor were already waiting. Dinner was peaceful with a lot of laughter.  
  
Near the end Elrohir gave Legolas and Elladan a meaningful glance and they started to have a whispered conversation.  
  
Then three sweet smiling faces turned to the elder elves.  
  
"Will one of you tell us a bedtime story tonight?" Elladan asked  
  
"Please." chimed in Elrohir and Legolas in unison.  
  
The three elder elves looked at each other.  
  
"I will tell you a story." Glorfindel spoke up, successfully avoiding the paper work that Elrond, Erestor and he had planned to work on. Or, rather, Elrond and Erestor had planned to work on, talking a reluctant Glorfindel into helping them.  
  
"Great. Thank you, Glorfy." the little ones said. "We'll meet you in the library later, before we go to bed."  
  
By the end of the story Legolas and the twins were laughing on the floor.  
  
Glorfindel had told them a funny story about a time when Elrond and he had tried to find a suitable girlfriend for Gil-Galad.  
  
And then it was time for all good elflings to go to bed. The guestroom Legolas was living in was only used to dump his things there anyway and he slept in the twins' room most of the time. Elrond came to say good night to the little ones and they soon were in the land of elven dreams.  
  
The next afternoon the three elflings were lying on the lawn in the garden. they had slept quite late that morning and had played games outside until lunch. afterwards they went to the garden again.  
  
"I'm bored." Elladan complained.  
  
"And I'm hungry." Elrohir added.  
  
"You always are, gwador-nin." Elladan jested.  
  
"Am not." Elrohir pouted.  
  
"I've got an idea." Legolas exclaimed. "Let's bake honey-ginger Lembas."  
  
"Great idea." Elladan said, jumping up from the ground, Legolas and Elrohir soon followed.  
  
"The staff have their afternoon off today. We've got the kitchen all to ourselves."  
  
Happily they ran inside to the kitchen.  
  
"So, what do we need?" Elrohir asked, standing in the middle of the enormous kitchen.  
  
"A bowl first." Legolas said. "And someone has to light the oven without setting the house on fire."  
  
"I'll do that." Elladan said and went to find some matches.  
  
"We need a jug of water, too." said Elrohir. "And honey and ginger, of course."  
  
Elladan came back with the matches and carefully lit the fire under the oven.  
  
"Where's the flour?" Legolas asked.  
  
"In that cupboard, up there." Elrohir said, pointing at a high up cupboard. He took a chair and set it in front of the cupboard. Then he stood upon it and tried to reach for the flour. He missed by inches.  
  
"It won't work. I can't get at it." he moaned.  
  
"Let me try. I'm taller." Elladan offered. He climbed on the chair and successfully got down the flour, handing it to Legolas.  
  
"Get the sugar down, while you're at it." Elrohir called from somewhere out of the cupboard, where he was looking for a bowl.  
  
Legolas got some eggs and filled the jug with water.  
  
"Do you have any Mallorn syrup? We could use it instead of half of the water."  
  
"Brilliant." Elladan said, tossing Legolas a bottle of sticky yellow liquid. He caught it skilfully.  
  
Elrohir was already busily cutting up the ginger. Legolas and Elladan started to mix the flour, the sugar and the eggs in the bowl. The flour was so dusty that it made all three of them sneeze several times.  
  
Elladan rubbed his nose with his hand, smearing his face with flour and sending his brother and Legolas into fits of giggles.  
  
They then poured half a jug of water and half a jug of Mallorn syrup into the bowl. Last, they added four spoons of honey and the ginger.  
  
Then Elladan, Elrohir and Legolas all took a spoon and started stirring the contents of the bowl until they had a soft dough.  
  
"How many trays do you think we need?" asked Legolas.  
  
"How many can we get in the oven?" Elrohir asked his brother.  
  
"We can get three trays into the oven, but I think we've only got enough dough for two trays." Elladan replied.  
  
They spread the dough onto the two trays and then put them into the oven.  
  
"Great, now we have to clean up." Elladan sighed.  
  
"Best before Ada sees this." Elrohir said. "He already wasn't too pleased about the mess in our room yesterday."  
  
You're right, gwador-nin. But he managed to conceal it quite well." Elladan mused.  
  
"So let's get going then." Legolas said.  
  
The three set to work. Elladan and Legolas washed up the dishes and other utensils and Elrohir wiped the table and put away all the other things.  
  
When they had finished clearing up they could take their Lembas out of the oven already. They did so and put it onto the balcony to cool off.  
  
"This is going to be a great meal." Legolas said. Elladan and Elrohir agreed enthusiastically.  
  
Elvish translations:  
  
gwador-nin: (my) brother   
Ada: daddy  
  
**Author's note:** Writing this chapter made me really happy and I hope you all had fun reading it. Please review.  
  
'Til the next chapter. I'll try to post it soon. 


	3. the bluberry incident

**Review answers:**  
  
to Tarilenea: I love Glorfindel too. And I'm happy to tell you that there's going to be more Glorfindel in this chapter and in some chapters to come.  
  
to Haldir's Heart and Soul: I don't know if the Lembas is any good. I've never tried out the recipe myself. My mother said it would probably be too liquid. But I'm planning to try out something like it sometime.  
  
to Amthramiel: I haven't written anything about how the Lembas tastes but I think they probably did well. I'm glad you like it.  
  
to mistopurr: hanks so much for the compliment. I love your stories too. I love Elflings too. And Legolas is my hero. I'm so glad you like it and that you're actually reading my story, as I'm rather new to writing fanfiction.  
  
**Author's note:** Now this chapter was written in a great hurry and it's a rather random idea. I wanted to get this up today, because I'm disappearing on a school trip tomorrow for a week. So the next chapter might take me a while longer. I was a rather nervous wreck and completely annoyed with packing while I wrote this. I hope you like it anyway. So enough of this.  
  
On with the action.  
  
Chapter three: the blueberry incident  
  
It had been raining for two days solid and it didn't look like it was going to stop soon. Elladan, Legolas and Elrohir, all extremely bored, were sitting on the twin's bed, staring blankly out of the window at the dark grey sky and the sheets of rain, falling down incessantly.  
  
The three elflings had played everything they could think of the last two days and had now run out of ideas.  
  
They were oh so bored.  
  
Elladan yawned. "What time is it?"  
  
"Half past two."  
  
"Let's go and find something to do." Legolas suggested.  
  
They jumped from the bed and exited the room. the three elflings took the way to the library, where they knew they would find Elrond, at a run. They burst through the door and nearly knocked over Erestor who was standing on a ladder in front of a very high bookshelf.  
  
"Ada, we're bored." whined Elladan and Elrohir.  
  
"Why don't you play a game of cards?" Elrond suggested, his eyes not leaving the map he was pouring over.  
  
"We've done that already." Legolas replied.  
  
"Can't you read us a story, Ada?" Elrohir pleaded.  
  
"I'm sorry, ion-nin, I haven't got time" Elrond replied apologetically. "But you could help me so sort these maps."  
  
The three elflings looked at each other, alarmed.  
  
"I... I think... I just had an idea." Elladan said quickly. He grabbed Elrohir and Legolas by the arm and the three of them disappeared out off the library as quickly as possible.  
  
"What are we going to do now?" Legolas asked.  
  
They were sitting on the table in the kitchen now, eating blueberries out of a bowl.  
  
"There must be_ something_ we can do." Elladan said with exasperation.  
  
"Something funny." Legolas added.  
  
They sat together in silent contemplation for a while, plopping blueberries into their mouths every now and then.  
  
"I thought of something just now." Elrohir suddenly said. He turned to his twin. "Do you remember that prank Glorfindel told us about? That which he and Ada pulled on Grandfather once?"  
  
The one after which Grandfather chased them through all of Lothlorien for three hours? Yes, I do remember and I always wanted to try it out myself." Elladan replied gleefully.  
  
Legolas, not understanding a thing, looked confused from one twin to the other. "What are you on about?" he asked.  
  
"I'll give you a hint." Elladan said. "It involves dyeing someone's hair."  
  
Legolas thought for a moment. "The blueberries?" he asked bewildered.  
  
"Exactly. The blueberries" Elladan replied.  
  
"Glorfindel is on border patrol today, isn't he?" Elrohir asked.  
  
"Yes, he said he'd be back tomorrow morning. So we've got loads of time." Elladan replied.  
  
"How are we going to do it?" Legolas asked.  
  
"Hm... Let's think. He mustn't notice 'til it's too late." Elrohir mused.  
  
"In any case, we'll have to extract the juice from the blueberries." Elladan pointed out.  
  
"Oh, I know how to do that." Legolas put in excitedly.  
  
"We could pour the juice into his shampoo. (A./N.: No idea if they have shampoo in LotR. But hey, this is Fanfiction and they are civilised Elves.)  
  
"That could work."  
  
"Let's get going then and hope that no one notices what we're up to" Legolas said, giggling.  
  
"Glorfindel is going to kill us." said Elladan.  
  
"Well, he shouldn't have told us this story." Elrohir replied. "Now, Legolas,. Do that extracting then.  
  
Legolas grabbed a thin tea towel and a bowl. He then wrapped the blueberries into the towel and squeezed them, letting the juice drip into the bowl.  
  
"Now we've got the juice, all we have to do is get into Glorfindel's room unnoticed."  
  
They sneaked out off the kitchen and made sure that no one was in sight. Then they went upstairs to Glorfindel's room. They opened the door and Legolas and Elrohir slipped inside the room while Elladan stood watch outside the door. Inside the room the other two pranksters searched the connected washroom for Glorfindel's shampoo.  
  
"Got it."Elrohir said. "You've got the juice?"  
  
"Yes, it's here." Legolas replied. "Unscrew the top, so I can pour it in."  
  
Legolas poured the blueberry juice into the shampoo bottle and Elrohir put the top back on. hen he shook the bottle.  
  
"That's done then. Now we only have to wait for Glorfy to come back." Elrohir said.  
  
The next morning, around nine 'o clock, Glorfindel came back from his patrol. As he always did, he went straight o his room and let in a hot bath. He undressed, got into the warm water and relaxed for a few minutes. Ten he wet his hair and put shampoo straight on it. He closed his eyes and massaged the shampoo into his hair. When he was done with that he ducked under water to wash out the foam.  
  
This was what he always did, after coming home from a journey. Little did he know that this habit would turn out _slightly_ different this time. Glorfindel wrapped a towel around his hair and got dressed. He then grabbed his hairbrush and brushed his hair. Afterwards he went to stand in front of the mirror. When he saw his hair, he gasped. 'No, it couldn't. It couldn't be... blue? ' He closed his eyes and shook his head. Then he looked back into the mirror.  
  
And yes, his hair was still blue. Shocked, Glorfindel ran into the wash room and opened his shampoo bottle. It was blue and it smelled of... blueberries.  
  
"ELLADAN, ELROHIR, LEGOLAS!" Gorfindel bellowed into the hall.  
  
The three little ones, who had been sitting at the bottom of the stairs and had been waiting for Glorfindel's reaction, jumped up and dashed off as far as possible from Glorfindel, shrieking and giggling.  
  
Glorfindel stormed out of his room and down the hallway and nearly knocked over Erestor.  
  
"Oh, Glorfindell. You're back. Very good. I wanted to ask..." Erestor stopped in mid sentence and stared at the Elf in front of him. Then he burst out, laughing.  
  
"Stop laughing, Erestor." Glorfindel ground out threateningly." "MY HAIR IS BLUE!"  
  
"That's stating the obvious." Erestor replied smugly.  
  
Glorfindel shot him a death glare and stormed off again, down the hall.  
  
In his study, Elrond had heard the commotion outside and he didn't have to wait long for Glorfindel to come into his study, seething and slamming the door behind him.  
  
"Glorfindel. Whatever happened?" Elrond asked, a smile laying on his lips.  
  
"What happened? WHAT HAPPENED?" Glorfindel nearly exploded. "Your sons, Elrond, your sons happened . And Thranduil's son. Look at my hair.  
  
Elrond was rather taken aback by the other Elf's outburst, but then he chuckled. remembering a similar incident.  
  
"Calm down, Glorfindel. They used blueberry juice, didn't they?"  
  
"Yes, they did." Glorfindel replied, still terribly annoyed.  
  
"You know, mellon-nin, I remember an incident when Celeborn was in quite the same situation as you are now. Did you ever tell the little ones that story?"  
  
"Oh, goodness. You're right." Glorfindel gasped.  
  
"Now calm down." Elrond soothed. "I think I know how to get your hair back to normal. And maybe you should be more careful about what you tell the kids net time.  
  
**Author's note:** Now this was a rather freaked out chapter three. See you next post. Be nice and review. Bye. 


	4. secret passages

**Review answers:  
  
**to Catmint: Yep, elflings are cute. Especially Legolas and the twins. I wouldn't be writing this otherwise. Thanks a lot for your review.  
  
to robyn: I like the word elfling too. I've actually added it to the computer dictionary. Thanks for your review.  
  
to elven maiden: Thanks for the excellent rating.  
  
to Haldir's Heart and Soul: Glad you enjoyed it.  
  
to mistopurr: Yeah, elflings (and other kids) can learn a lot of mischief from stories.  
Well, next update is there. And I'm so glad you like my story.  
  
to nychick8990: Hah. I'm updating at long last. More cute elflings. Thanks for the review.  
  
to that Undomiel chick: Yeah, Glorfindel shouldn't tell them too much. But the way I describe him in this story is just the way I think Glorfindel would be if one knew more about him. But it's just as well one doesn't. It leaves a lot to your imagination. By the way, nice name you got there.  
  
to Lomabadia Greenleaf: I'm glad you think it's funny. I was actually laughing myself when I wrote it.  
  
to Elf of Sirannon: Hm... Legolas Ada? I didn't really give that much thought, I must admit, since Legolas is already in Rivendell when this story starts. But maybe Legolas was sort of escorted there and someone will pick him up sometime. Since elves are immortal, they sort of have a lot of time and I imagine Legolas spends quite some time in Rivendell. But thanks, because your question just gave me an idea. But you'll have to continue reading to find out.  
  
to Jedi Gollum: You really do seem to like elflings. By the way, your story about Leggy and the twins is so cute too. Thanks for your reviews. All three of them.  
  
**Author's note: **Well, I'm back. I had a great time on my school trip and I was so happy when I got home and checked my mails and found so many review alerts. You're great girls. Unfortunately things started happening and I suddenly had a life. So I'm ever so sorry about the long delay. I also felt I had to update my other story, so I wrote two chapters for that. And between all that my computer was down for like forever due to a lack of people who know how to deal with certain technical problems. But here's the next chapter about our beloved elflings. By the way, if some of this sounds weird, I wrote part of it between practising with a drama group.

I'm on vacation in England right now, visiting my aunt. That is where I finally finished this chapter.  
  
So, n joy.  
  
**Chapter four:** secret passages

The next day the weather was getting better, though it hadn't quite stopped raining yet and a thick mist still hung over the valley of Imladris.

Elrond had managed to come up with a concoction to remove the blue colour from Glorfindel's hair, but there were still the faintest streaks of blue to be seen. Legolas and the twins were mostly trying to stay out of Glorfindel's way, though he wasn't mad at them anymore, the elflings had the suspicion that Glorfindel would think up a suitable prank in revenge. He had done so before, for the elf lord had a rather 'humorous' nature himself.

It was late afternoon and the three elflings were in the twin's room. Elladan and Elrohir were engaged in a rather heated game of chess and Legolas was lying on the bed, reading a book.

Legolas shut his book with a 'thump' and then got down from the bed and plopped down on the floor next to Elladan and Elrohir. He watched them for a while as they each made their seemingly well calculated moves.

"I wonder if we would be allowed to practise archery in the next few days." Legolas voiced his thoughts.

"Oh, Ada says we're allowed to practise any time we like, as long as long as there's someone with us who knows what he's doing." answered Elrohir, disposing of Elladans second knight with a flurrish.

"That's a great idea." Elladan interjected. "I wanted to practise more anyway. I hope to be good enough to partake in a tournament soon."

"But we'll have to wait another one or two days, because it is still too windy at the moment. It's more fun when the weather is nice, anyway." Legolas pointed out.

They fell into silence and Elrohir and Elladan concentrated on their game of chess once more. Legolas lay back on the floor, staring at the ceiling and listening to the twin's now constant bickering about moves and rules. t grew quiet again, then another piece clattered to the floor. Legolas sat up again. He had been lost in a daydream for quite some time.

He was now staring directly at the wall. Ten something caught his eye. Legolas was studying the intricately carved pattern on the wall. There was something strange about part of it. He couldn't exactly discern what it was, but something about it just didn't look right, distinctly different.

Legolas was brought back to the present when someone knocked at the door. It opened and Erestor poked his head in, informing the elflings that dinner would be ready in five minutes.

"We'd better go then." Elladan said. "Come on."

Legolas took another unsure look at the carving in the wall and then followed the twins out of the room.

Eating dinner took ages, or so it seemed to Legolas. He was impatient. He wanted to find out what exactly was wrong with that wall. It seemed stupid to him, really, it was after all only a wall. But it kept popping into his mind and distracted him thoroughly.

"Legolas, would you please pass me the sauce?" Elladan asked. No reply. Legolas was just sitting there, staring blankly at his plate. " Legolas?" Elladan asked while Elrohir waved his hand in front of Legolas' face. Legolas snapped back to reality, realising that someone had tried to talk to him.

"Oh, sorry. What did you say?" he asked.

"I asked you to pass me the sauce." Elladan replied. "Oh." Legolas said and passed the sauce over hastily. Elladan and Elrohir looked at each other puzzled and shrugged, returning their attention to their dinner. Legolas continued eating too.

By the end of dinner Legolas had managed to make Elladan and Elrohir really nervous. They could hardly wait to get out of the dining hall. The three elflings had to wait another few minutes before Elrond finally let them leave. Once they were ou of the hall and had rounded a corner, the twins could at last ask Legolas the questions they had.

"What's wrong? You've been acting all queer since before dinner." Elrohir exclaimed.

"There's something I have to show you." Lgolas stated simply, starting to lead the way. Now he had Elladan and Elrohir worried. Legolas led them up several flights of stairs and finally to their own room.

"You want to show us something in _there_?" Elrohir asked unbelievingly as they entered.

"Legolas. This is our own room. We know everything there is to know about it." Elladan said, exasperated.

"Are you sure?" Legolas asked with sham gravity. He went to stand in front of the wall, facing it.

"Come and look at this." Legolas gestured to the twins to come and stand next to him.

"Is that why you've been acting all strange the whole evening? The _wall_?"

"Of course not only the wall." Legolas answered, annoyed. "Look at this part of the carving." Legolas pointed to a place where the stem of a flower carving curved upwards. "Do you see those two thin lines? And this section of the carving is slightly darker than the rest." Legolas ran his finger along the carving. It felt rougher than the other places too.

"So even if it's different. hat is this all about?" Elladan's impatience was finally getting the better of him.

"I don't know what it is." Legolas said, looking to the ground. "I just noticed."

Elrohir sighed and leaned against the wall in question. Suddenly, he shrieked and fell backwards as part of the wall slid to the side noiselessly, revealing an entrance to a dark beyond, the size of a door.

"We've found a secret passage!" Elrohir exclaimed, picking himself up from the floor.

"All right." Legolas said mockingly. "You know all there is to know about your room?"

"Well, maybe not." Elrohir admitted.

"That must be one of the old escape passages Erestor told us about in his_ oh so interesting _history lessons." Elladan concluded.

"You actually listened? Elrohir asked, scandalised.

"Only a little." came his twin's reply.

"Let's find out where it leads to." Legolas suggested excitedly.

"Of course we will do that..." Elladan said, only to be interrupted by his brother and Legolas: "Let's go then."

"But not tonight." Elladan tried to calm the other two down, acting all older-brother-like.

"Why not?" Legolas whined.

"Because it is quite late and Ada will be coming to say good night soon."

"Oh."

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and Elrond entered his sons' room.

"It is time to go to bed, boys." he said

Elladan sighed and Elrohir rolled his eyes.

"Now, where is Legolas going to sleep tonight?" Elrond asked.

"He's staying here." The twins quickly said in unison. Legolas nodded.

"Well then, get ready. I'll come in a few minutes to say good night.

"So. We all still know where the entrance to the passage is?" Elladan asked when Elrond had left the room. The other two nodded.

"Good. Then let's get ready and we'll make plans when we're in bed later."

When Elrond came back to say good night he found his sons and Legolas in bed already. He tucked the elflings in and told them a short bedtime story. Nothing too exciting though. He didn't want them to be too scared to sleep. If only he knew what Glorfindel sometimes told them. After leaving his sons' room Elrond did wonder why the little ones didn't put up more of a fight, which they did more often than not.

"He's gone." Elladan whispered after Elrond's footsteps had died away. He jumped out of bed and lit a candle which he placed on the bedside table.

"So what are we going to do?" Legolas asked.

"Well, tomorrow Ada has got a meeting with a representant of Lothlorien and Erestor will be there too. Glorfindel is somewhere on border patrol again. No one will be around to stop us." Elladan said. "So all we need to do is go into the passage and see where it leads."

"We need to take enough torches and matches." Elrohir added.

"And we need string to make sure we find back." Legolas suggested.

"Good. So that's settled." Elladan concluded. "Let's sleep now."

The next morning the three litlle ones woke up extra early to make sure they could get all the things they needed.

"Do you think we should tell anyone?" Elrohir a sked while sorting through a chest cluttered with torches and candles.

"No." said Elladan. "They'll only try to stop us. You know what Ada's like. He dreads that something is going to happen the moment we leave the house." Elladan was wrapping up a very long piece of string around his hand. Legolas was holding another one. When they were done they took the string and torches to the twins' room and then headed down to the great hall for breakfast.

They sat down and started eating.

"Ada?" Elladan asked. "Do you think we could practise archery any time soon?"

"Well," Elrond replied " I won't have time for the next few days, but if you find someone else to accompany you, you can go."

The three elflings grinned at each other and Elladan said "Let's ask Glorfy when he gets back."

"Good idea." The other two said.

There was a loud knock on the massive oak door and a servat entered. "My Lord. " He adressed Elrond "Haldir of Lorien has arrived. He will be waiting for you in your office."

Elrond sighed. "Well, behave yourselves." He told the little ones and went off to begin a very long lasting and exhausting meeting.

Elladan jumped up as soon as his father was out of sight. "Let's go then." He urged his brother and Legolas.

"Race to your room?" Legolas suggested. "Sure." the twins agreed at once. They bolted out of the room and up several flights of stairs landing with a leap on the bed.

"So. We've got the string, torches and matches." Legolas said. "And," Elrohir added "we've got Mallorn toffies." He held up a jar of extremely sticky yellow toffies.

"Where did you get those from?" Elladan asked.

"Oh, I slipped into the kitchens this morning when no one was looking. Just in case we get stuck."

"Briliant." Legolas said.

They stepped up to the wall and elladan said "Ready?" The other two nodded with detemination and Elladan pressed the carving. The entrance revealed itself. Legolas lit a torch and the three of them entered.

Inside, Legolas held up the torch to illuminate the passage. It was high and quite wide, probably to allow a lot of people to use it at the same time if need be. There was a little stone switch, the shape of a flower, to close the sliding door from the inside. Elrohir pressed it and soon the twins and Legolas were on their way down the long dark passage.

"Where do you think it leads?" Legolas asked after a while.

"Maybe to the kitchens." Elrohir mused.

"Oh, Ro. Is that all you ever think about?" Elladan groaned. "I hope it leads to the armory."

They walked in silence for a time until the passage forked into two other passages.

"Where to now?" Elrohir asked. "Left or right?"

"Right." Legolas and elladan said at the same time. Elrohir didn't really have a choice but to agree.

"We should start using the string now." Elladan suggested. Legolas gave Elrohir the torch to hold and started to unravel the string. He bound one end to a small piece of rock that was sticking out of the wall. The three elflings then started to make their way down the right passage each letting the string trail through their fingers as they went.

After quite a long time they still hadn't found anything.

"Where ever does this lead?" Elladan moaned as they rounded yet another corner.

"Outside." Legolas said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Elladan said.

"This passage leads outside." Legolas informed him.

"How do you know?" Elrohir asked curiously.

"Because the air is getting cooler and the walls damper."

"You never fail to surprise me, tithen-pen." Elladan said with a grin.

"Elladan!" Legolas groaned,annyoyed.

"Let's get going then." Elrohir urged.

So on they went. The passage stopped winding so much, but started winding steadily upwards. Suddenly, Elladan, who was in the lead, stopped in his tracks. Elrohir and Legolas nearly bumped into him.

"What is it?" Elrohir asked anxiously.

"Can you hear that?" Elkadan ased. The other two listened.

"Yes." Legolas said. "Water!" Elrohir supplied. "Exactly."

"Let's find out where it comes from." They ran around a corner and suddenly stood at the foot of a steep flight of stairs. As they climbed them the sound of thundering water grew constantly louder. When they finally reached the top they all three gasped in wonder. They were standing in a spacious cave, the walls glittering in the sunlight that filtered inthrough the great waterfall that concealed the entrance.

"I believe we've found the source of the water." Elladan said in wonder as he stepped further into the cave. Legolas and Elrohir came up next to Elladan and looked around them.

"This place is wonderful!" Legolas exclaimed.

"Yes, it is." Elrohir agreed.

"Look. There are something like benches set into the wall." Elladan jumped up on an outcrop in the wall. Legolas went directly behin the waterfall and peered downwards. "There are some steps here leading to the ground." He found out.

"Look how glittery the walls are." Elrohir said while jumping around the cave joyfully.

"Come here, you two." Elladan called to the others. " I just had an idea." He junped from his perch as Legolas and elrohir came up.

"How about we make this our very special secret place." he suggested.

"Brilliant idea!" the others agreed. "We make a promise." Elladan continued. They all held out their right hands an layed them ontop of one another. "We will never tell anyone else about this place. It is our secret. We will be friends forever and always help eachother in all situations."

"Promise." they all said together. Then Elladan picked up a stone that was lying around and used it to engrave their initials ion the wall above the stone bench. Satisfied he turned to the others. "Now, it really is perfect." he said plopping down on the bench contentedly.

"Toffies, anyone?" Elrohir asked.

"Sure." said the others.

They sat there for a while munching away at the sticky sweets.

"We should go back." Legolas said. "the sun is setting already."

They climbed down the stairs and rolled up the string as they went on. When they reached the twins' room they quickly concealed the entrance again and placed the torches and string in a wooden trunk under Elrohir's bed. They were almost late for dinner. They burst throuhg the doors of the dining hall at a run. Elrond, Glorfindel and Erestor were already waiting there for them.

When they had started eating elrond asked " So, what have you three been up to today. It is very unusual for you to be late for dinner."

"Oh, we were outside, playing games. We nearly forgot the time." Elrohir supplied quickly. Elrond exchanged suspicious galnces with the other two elflords but chose not to comment. He was sure he would have heard if the little ones had been up to some mischief.

"Glorfy?" Elladan turned to the blond balrog slayer. "Would you go to practise archery with us tomorrow? Please?"

Glorfindel looked to Elrond for approval. "Go ahead." Elrond said.

"That's settled then." Glorfindel announced. "But we must be out early."

**Author's note: **OK. I think this chapter was slightly weird and I'm not exactly satisfied with it. But it won't get any better by waiting longer.

To anyone reading "Halfway to anywhere.": Watch out for chapter two in the next few days. As always, please be so kind and send me lovely reviews.


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